If you are lucky enough to get to visit Africa and go on a safari, it is one of the most amazing experiences anyone will ever have while traveling.  You will probably want to go back again as soon as you can as seeing this only once is not going to be enough. 

One of the things I didn’t know before I visited Africa was something referred to as the Big Five.  This is a list of animals who are named the Big Five based on their difficulty to hunt (originally on foot), the danger when hunting them, and also because of the threat from poaching or the decline in their numbers.  The term was then adopted by the tour companies for the main five to try to see when visiting.  They don’t all exist in the same areas, and some are harder to see than others. 

The Big Five include the following:

• African Bush Elephant
• African Buffalo
• African Leopard
• Black Rhino
• Lion

We were lucky enough to see all of them on our trip, though we went to Kenya and Tanzania, so we didn’t see the Black Rhino until we got to Tanzania but we got to see the others many times while in Kenya. 

The African Leopard is supposed to be a hard one to get to see but we saw them twice in Maasai Mara National Reserve in Kenya and then saw another in Tanzania.

There are also a few other lists you may hear referred to as well, the Ugly Five and the Shy Five. 

Then there is the Ugly Five:

• Hyena
• Marabou Stork
• Vulture
• Warthog
• Wildebeest

The Ugly Five can also be seen on most safaris, we saw them all as well.  Although I have to say that Warthogs were one of my favorites and their ugliness grew on me quickly and I fell in love with them.  They love rolling around in the mud and their horns don’t help with their looks, but you see them running and their tail wagging as they run it is just so adorable.

And the Shy Five:

• Aardvark
• Aardwolf
• Bat-Eared Fox                  
• Meerkat
• Porcupine

As far as the Shy Five, we didn’t see any of these except for the bat-eared fox.  Most of these are nocturnal animals out only after dark so not easy to see.  However, we did get to see an termite hill that an Aardvark had obviously been digging at during the night before. 

All of these animals: big, ugly or shy are just amazing to get to see and experience their traits and how they live.  If you are able to make it on a safari in Africa I would suggest jumping at the chance.  Our safaris have been my favorite travel experience of everything we have been lucky to experience.

Note that all photos used in this post were taken by DaisyChainFun.